WebAssembly

The Next-Generation Universal Execution Platform

WebAssembly Research Center

First released for the web in 2017, WebAssembly (Wasm) has enabled a new, powerful class of web applications and languages. Wasm is quickly growing beyond the web, being adopted in a diverse set of platforms from edge computing and distributed compute infrastructure to embedded systems and more. It holds promise as the elusive universal execution platform with strong security properties, broad language support and excellent performance.

Wasm has enabled a new, powerful class of web applications and diverse programming languages on the web. Ultimately, Wasm could serve as the key intermediate layer between software and hardware.

Wasm holds promise as the elusive universal execution platform with strong security properties, broad language support and excellent performance.

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Become a member of the WebAssembly Research Center to connect with our colleagues at DFINITY, Shopify, Siemens, Woven by Toyota and more!

Mission

Our mission is to see beyond the horizon to long-term applications of WebAssembly, to fill the pipeline of virtual machine expertise for the next generation, and to benefit language implementers and users.

Activities

An array of computer screens displaying code.
The WebAssembly Research Center, created by CMU in 2022, aims to advance the strategic direction of WebAssembly by:
  • Increasing the uptake of Wasm in research through developing and nurturing academic instruction, projects and programs related to Wasm.
  • Developing public Wasm research infrastructure.
  • Training the next generation of Wasm specialists. 

These activities will enable the center to fill the pipeline of virtual machine expertise for the next generation of innovation. By training new VM experts as they investigate long-term research questions and building prototype technologies and tools that advance the state of the art, the center will support the vision of Wasm as the next-generation universal execution platform.

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